She faced him, feeling the rush of emotions that ran the gamut from annoyance to awe to alarm . . . and annoyance won out. “What?”

He held up her discarded jeans. “Don’t you want these?”

“Keep them as collateral,” she tossed over her shoulder, and hustled away.

And surprise, surprise, the man didn’t follow her.

In class, Sandan Zach didn’t pause in his lecture as she slid into her spot in the back row. “For most women, it goes against your natural response to fight back. So our aim isn’t to teach you how to start a fight, but how to defend yourself, which is a far cry from being the aggressor. Any questions?”

Amery had a ton of them, but she kept her mouth shut. Wouldn’t want to be known as the problem pupil any more than she already was.

“I’m sure questions will arise over the next few weeks. But right now we’ll do the most basic self-defense technique for an attack without a weapon. This is Shihan Knox. He’ll be assisting me in class.”

Shihan Knox came up behind Zach and snaked an arm around his neck.

“Three things to be aware of in this situation. How much head movement you have, where the person is behind you, and where your arms are. It’d be difficult in this position to try a reverse head butt to connect with the attacker’s nose. You might first try turning your head and biting the attacker’s arm. We’re not talking a little love bite, ladies. I’m talking about opening your mouth wide like you’re gnawing on a turkey leg and biting down like you’re trying to reach the bone.”

Other class members giggled.

Which didn’t amuse Sandan Zach at all.

“If your head is too immobilized for that, remember where your hands are. Usually right up here.” He wrapped his hands around Knox’s arm, trying to pull it away. “That is a wasted motion. Use your hands elsewhere. If your attacker is a man, ladies, you’ve got one shot to grab on to his junk and try to twist it off. That said, that’s a pretty risky move because a guy’s automatic response is to protect the family jewels. So you’ve got to assume he’ll anticipate where you plan to attack. Your best option is stomp on his foot.”

“But what if she’s wearing flip-flops and I’m wearing combat boots?” Shihan Knox asked.

“Good point. That won’t work. In that case, kick out and aim for the knee. Even connecting with the shin with just the back of the heel is painful and a hard-placed kick will often loosen up the attacker’s hold enough that you can escape.” Zach kicked out at Knox and he released him from the choke hold. “Let’s call this a victory for now. The goal has been achieved—to break the attacker’s hold.”

After fifteen more minutes of demonstrations, during which Amery’s eyes had sort of glazed over, Molly scooted closer and whispered, “Could you ever bite someone like that?”

“Hard enough to break the skin?”

She nodded.

“It’d depend.” Her eyes searched Molly’s. “Could you have bitten your attacker if you knew it would’ve stopped him?”

“When you put it that way . . . yes. I’m tired of being scared of my own shadow.”

Amery squeezed her hand. “I know. Let’s focus on turning you into a badass no one wants to mess with.”

“Are you talking during class because you’ve already got all the answers?” Master Black asked behind her.

She jumped. When she spun around he took her wrists in one hand and lightly wrapped his hand around the base of her throat.

“Hey!”

“See how easy it is to get into trouble when you’re unaware?”

Damn him.

“You are here to learn.”

“I know that,” she retorted. Then when his stony face remained that way, she tacked on “Sir.”

“Prove it.” He did some fancy twisting maneuver and then he was behind her, dragging her off the mat. “Remember what to do if you’re put in a choke hold? Or were you too busy talking to listen to your instructor?”

“I can multitask.”

An arm snaked around her throat and he pinned her left arm behind her back. “Show me how to get out of this hold.”

Her heart rate zoomed. Her free hand came up to claw at his arm, but that did nothing to loosen his grip.

“Try again.”

She turned her head and opened her mouth over his meaty biceps, intending to sink her teeth into the marrow of his bones.

Master Black released her.

Score one for her. But Amery’s victory was short-lived. Then he wrapped his other arm around her neck but left both her arms free. “Again. Make me release you.”

She swung her elbow into his gut and attempted to scratch his eye out.

He let her go.

But he wasn’t done. She’d barely get him to release her and then he had her immobilized again.

The man was relentless in his drills.

During a short break, Amery noticed the rest of the class was working with partners too—just not instructors—and they were on the far side of the room, giving Amery and Master Black a wide berth. She’d give anything if she could just pick him up and throw him over her head on his ass.

She was fantasizing about the look of shock on his too-perfect face, not paying attention, and that’s when he wrapped his hands around her neck and stayed back, not in close proximity to her body. “Free yourself.”

Shoot, she didn’t remember this one. She tried to kick out at his knee, but he dodged. She tried to twist away, risking a neck injury, but he held fast.